Top U.S. diplomat escapes gun attack in northern Pakistan

Tuesday 26 August 2008 12:07 BST

Gunmen opened fire on the top U.S. diplomat in north-western Pakistan yesterday as she left for work in her armoured vehicle.

The attack in Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province, came a day after the government announced a ban on the Pakistani Taliban, the umbrella militant group said to be behind a recent string of suicide bombings and other attacks.

It also came hours after the government's ruling coalition collapsed, a fracture that could strengthen a party considered more in line with U.S. goals in the war on terror.

Lynne Tracy, the principal officer for the U.S. consulate in Peshawar, was "100 per cent safe," police official Riaz Khan said.

Casualty: Pakistani man was injured after being struck by a vehicle carrying a US Diplomat which came under fire in Peshawar

Casualty: Pakistani man was injured after being struck by a vehicle carrying a US Diplomat which came under fire in Peshawar

Mohammad Nabi, another police official, said an unknown number of gunmen in a Land Cruiser fired from an open window before fleeing the scene. He said the U.S. consulate driver managed to reverse the vehicle and reach the nearby residence of the American official.

The U.S. Embassy provided few details, saying only that there was a "security incident" involving three consulate employees. It would not name or describe the employees.

"There were no injuries and minimal damage to the vehicle," spokesman Lou Fintor added. "We are coordinating with Pakistani authorities in investigating the incident."

Fintor declined to comment on U.S. security procedures and said he did not know if Tracy's vehicle was armed or what type it was.

Tracy lives in a part of Peshawar known as University Town, an upscale and heavily guarded part of the bustling, dusty city.

Militant activity is rampant in parts of northwest Pakistan, though mainly in tribal regions where U.S. officials say insurgents have found safe havens from which to plan attacks on American and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Peshawar has not been immune to attacks, and concerns about militant activity in and around it prompted the government to stage a paramilitary offensive in the neighboring Khyber tribal region earlier this year.

Target: The U.S. diplomat's house in the city yesterday

Target: The U.S. diplomat's house in the city yesterday

Such offensives - including continuing army operations in the Bajur tribal region and the Swat Valley - have angered the Pakistani Taliban, which has vowed retaliation.

Last week, the militant group claimed to be behind a twin suicide bombing at a weapons manufacturing complex near the federal capital, Islamabad, that killed 67 people.

Pakistan, where anti-American sentiment runs deep, is considered a hardship posting for U.S. diplomats, with most coming for one-year stints without family.

However, while there are occasional attacks on Western targets, directly targeting U.S. officials is still relatively unusual. Top diplomats in particular tend to have security and are often restricted in what places they are allowed to visit.

Along with its embassy, the U.S. has three consulates in Pakistan - in Peshawar, the eastern city of Lahore and the southern city of Karachi. In 2006, a suicide attacker blew himself up outside the Karachi consulate, killing a U.S. diplomat.

In 2002, five people, including two Americans, were killed when a militant hurled grenades into a Protestant church in Islamabad attended by members of the diplomatic community.

Meanwhile Tuesday, in Pakistan's southwest Baluchistan province, a bomb rigged to a motorcycle parked near the stage of a political rally in the town of Jaaferabad wounded at least 20 people, some critically, police official Nazir Ahmad said.

Ahmad said the injured belonged to the political party of Nawab Akbar Bugti, who died in 2007 when a cave in which he was hiding collapsed during a military operation against him.

Bugti was a former Baluchistan governor and had led a violent campaign to pressure the central government to give his impoverished province a larger share of money for natural resources extracted from it.

The recent attacks indicate an escalation in militant activity just as the country's ruling coalition has crumbled.

Just a week before, the two main parties united to drive longtime U.S. ally Pervez Musharraf from the presidency, but their partnership collapsed over disputes about his successor and how to restore judges he had ousted.

The main ruling Pakistan People's Party is expected to cobble together a new coalition now that its key junior partner has quit, avoiding the need for another general election.

The Pakistan People's Party, long led by slain ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, moved almost immediately to calm U.S. fears that the government is paying too little attention to extremism, banning the Taliban group and demanding they surrender their arms.

Bhutto's widower and political successor, Asif Ali Zardari, has announced he will run for president, and he is expected to win easily. The party submitted his nomination papers on Tuesday.